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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28636473">Ivy Lane</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawwwrp/pseuds/yawwwrp'>yawwwrp</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Character Death, Horror, M/M, Slow Build, Suspense, kind of inspired by hill house</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:06:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28636473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawwwrp/pseuds/yawwwrp</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eight friends move into a decidedly creepy mansion together. But not all is as it seems.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han, Lee Felix/Yang Jeongin | I.N if you squint, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Welcome Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ok hi first of all~</p><p>i'm a huge horror geek and i wanted to write something creepy so i was kinda inspired by a bunch of different horror movies, books and tv shows that i used to love, though a lot of inspiration from this comes from the netflix show hill house (go watch it if you haven't seen it yet, it's amazing)</p><p>unrelated but pls check out Rolling Quartz' debut song on yt they are absolutely incredible and unfortunately not well known :(</p><p>anyway, so this is my attempt at a spooky story, I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The ivy covered gates loom ominously before them as Changbin explains to his friends again that them moving into a mansion is neither a trick nor a hidden camera prank.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you say you don’t even know the aunt who left it to you in her will?”, Felix asks, eyeing the gate warily. Something about the house in the outskirts of town, surrounded by fields and forests gives him goosebumps. The evening sun reflected off the slightly rusty sign on the side of the gate - </span>
  <em>
    <span>171 Ivy Lane</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin sighs. “I mean, I met her once when I was a kid. She’s like some twice removed cousin of my mom’s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He manages to unlock the chain at the gate and pushes the gate open to allow his friends access.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why exactly should we move in with you again?”, questions Jisung as they walk the long driveway towards the incredibly big, spooky mansion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, you guys keep complaining about high rents and annoying neighbors. Let’s just live here until the realtor can find someone to buy this huge ass house.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin wrinkles his nose more and more the closer they get to the big wooden front door. “It looks like a house from a horror movie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho raises an eyebrow at him. “Don’t be a baby. I get first room choice, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan pipes up at the comment. “Shouldn’t the oldest get first choice?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin finds the right key on the giant bundle of keys he received and opens the front door, letting them enter into a massively oversized room with a wide staircase leading up to the first floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damn, I knew your family was rich but this is just excessive”, Felix breathes out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all break apart to check out the house for a while, which is in great shape, though the interior is pretty old fashioned. Room choice order is eventually decided by picking straws which leaves Changbin with the master bedroom in the middle of the first floor, Chan, Minho and Felix with rooms next to each other in the East wing, Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin on the West Wing and Hyunjin with the basement room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do I get the basement room?”, Hyunjin whines. He had last choice and there were no other free rooms available on the first floor, though when they check out the basement, Hyunjin is pleasantly surprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the end of a long hallway lie two doors, one to the actual basement and one to a spacious and modern looking bedroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what, I take it back. I like the basement.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They gather in the dining room after driving out to get take out and Minho holds up a hand while Chan is distributing food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We should make some house rules”, he states while taking a bite of a burger. “Rule number one: no entering someone else’s room unless you are invited.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung rolls his eyes at him and chuckles. “Just say that you want to spend your time in your room naked, Minho.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho throws him an angry look but Jisung ignores it and digs into his food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like a good rule”, Chan agrees. “We should also make a chores plan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin lifts up a hand to interject with a pained face. “I’m not doing dishes!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Honestly, living in the giant mansion was a pretty sweet deal, Chan has to admit. They’ve been there for a few days now and he’s currently looking through the study and the vast amounts of books packed in there and hands one to Seungmin who’s standing next to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This looks super old. It’s probably worth a shit ton of money.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin turns it around in his hands before giving it back to Chan. “Still creepy though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan just shrugs and puts the book back on the shelf.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A faint smell of food wafts through the hallway to them and lures the two of them to the kitchen where Minho is currently attempting to teach Changbin how to make food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not how you do it, give me the knife”, Minho whines and grabs the knife from a confused looking Changbin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you said to cut it like that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho pushes him to the side with his hip and takes over. “Deck the table or something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin makes a face but goes off to find plates anyway, muttering sarcastically under his breath. “Ah, domestic bliss.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After dinner, everyone wanders off to bed, ready to start off another work week again the next day, except for Chan. Chan settles down in the living room with one of the books he found in the study, trying to combat his insomnia by reading about some shit that went down a hundred years ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks up from the book at the giant fireplace in front of him and thinks that it might be nice to turn that on once it gets colder in the next few weeks. The house is quiet and the crackling of a fire would have been a nice white noise to lull him to sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His attention turns back to some army general in World War I and his musings on what his wife might be doing back home as he’s being shot at in the trenches. After a while, he can feel his eyelids getting heavy and he checks his watch to see that it’s already past midnight. Soldier memoires can wait, he decides and gets ready to climb the staircase up to the first floor and hope into bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the foot of the staircase he pauses. Somebody’s walking around on the first floor and he calls out quietly, “Anyone still awake?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He feels stupid for a moment, like some idiot in a horror movie who’s about to get stabbed, especially when a few seconds pass and he hears nothing but silence. Probably just one of his friends walking around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan heaves a sigh as he takes the steps up and pauses for a moment at the top to check both hallways. No one’s out walking around and the silence he’s greeted with reassures him that he’s most likely just extremely sleep deprived.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns to the East Wing and wanders down the dark hallway until he’s reached the door to his room, looking back over his shoulder one last time. His blood runs cold as he sees a figure, barely visible in the darkness, at the end of the other hallway. He shuts his eyes for a moment, trying to make sure he’s still fully awake and when he opens them again, the hallway lies empty and silent.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jeongin still has the smell of ashes and fire in his nose when he opens his eyes. He lets out a long sigh - nightmares suck. He drags himself out of bed and disables his alarm, not planning on going back to bed for fifteen lousy minutes. When he makes his way down to the kitchen later, freshly showered and fully dressed, he’s already greeted with a hustle and bustle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeongin, you need a ride to the city center? Minho’s already taking Felix, Hyunjin and Changbin so you can ride with Seungmin, Jisung and me”, Chan tells him as he hands him a glass of orange juice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck, we’re late!” Minho gulps his coffee down in one go and dashes to the door. “If you’re not by the car in three minutes, I’m leaving without you, guys!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin is grateful for the morning chaos, distracting him from the lingering fear of his nightmare and takes Chan up on his offer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, drink fast because if Minho’s late, we’re probably even more late.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The perks of working at the same company are that all eight of them have the same working hours. Which means that they find themselves back at the house in the afternoon at the same time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So I think pumpkins would be a good idea”, Jisung finishes a conversation that started in the car on the ride home and Seungmin sighs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine. But if we’re doing pumpkins, I get to have the lettuce.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin nudges Chan’s side with a confused look as they enter the house. “What are they talking about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They wanna plant a vegetable garden.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Should we put the pumpkins over here?” Jisung is currently surveying the edge of the football field sized backyard, close to the house. “I don’t wanna plant stuff all the way at the end of the yard, then we’ll have to walk super far to take care of the plants.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin agrees, the closer to the house, the better. Plus the other end of the yard leads to a creepy looking forest and Seungmin would love to not get attacked by a bear while checking on lettuce.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin turns around to take a look at what Jisung is currently staring at. Below one of the hedges, he finds a small bone and makes a face. “That’s disgusting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks super small, you think it’s a rat or something?” Jisung pokes the bone with his shoe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin turns away again. “Whatever it is, it’s gross. You found it so you’re getting rid of it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next two weeks pass by uneventfully, except for a very memorable game of charades where Felix does an Oscar-worthy impression of their annoying boss, and the stress of their current project at work has all of them on edge for a while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin in particular is extremely irritable and snaps at Minho one morning while Minho is making coffee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Calm down, there’s no reason for you to get angry at me. I’m making coffee as fast as I can.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin sighs as he sits down at the kitchen table. “Sorry… I’m just… going crazy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho puts down a mug of freshly brewed coffee in front of him just as Chan enters the kitchen. “Work?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin shakes his head. “No, it’s the stupid scratching.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan and Minho exchange a confused look and Changbin explains further at the sight of their lost expressions. “The scratching. Don’t tell me you can’t hear it. It must be somewhere near the staircase because I keep hearing it when I’m down here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan grabs a coffee mug as well and sits down next to Changbin. “Maybe it’s a rat? Jisung said they found a rat bone in the backyard the other day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin groans and buries his face in his hands. “Good lord, I hope we don’t have a fucking rat infestation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s just look around when we come back for work, maybe it’s just a loose pipe or something”, Minho suggests and claps Changbin’s back encouragingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s hope so.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After work, the three of them check every nook and cranny but can’t hear anything and Changbin gives up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t even care anymore. As long as I don’t hear anymore scratching, they can live there for all I care.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin stares at the three of them checking under the staircase with flashlights. “What the hell are you three doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Checking for the plague”, Minho answers and Chan elbows him in the side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t say it like that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The three of them crawl out from under the staircase and turn off their flashlights while Hyunjin still looks at them in confusion. “Do I even want to know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin gives him an empty look. “You don’t.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There is no more scratching the rest of the day and Changbin thanks the universe for letting him get some well deserved rest as he heads off to bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin goes to bed not long after, finding it hard to fall asleep. He’s been having nightmares every other night and he doesn’t really feel well rested. Maybe he should switch rooms with someone, he thinks just before he drifts off into a restless sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wakes up again in the middle of the night and his heart rate speeds up when he realizes he can’t move. He frantically tries to wiggle his fingers, lift an arm, anything, but his body is like lead underwater. His eyes widen in fear and dart around the room as if they’re trying to make up for the lack of movement from the rest of his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even if he were able to move, what he sees would paralyze him. It’s dark in the room, only a sliver of pale moonlight falling in through the window, and yet he can make out a dark silhouette at the foot of his bed, just standing there not moving.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin closes his eyes again and his heart is beating so hard, he can hear it in his ears. He keeps his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep and when he opens them again a few excruciatingly long minutes later, he’s alone in the room again.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Blueprint</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heyooooo~</p><p>i will probably add tags as this goes one bc a lot of tags would spoil the story so sorry about that :(</p><p>hope you enjoy and have a fresh time today!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Thursday mornings make everyone in the house happy. The promise of a work-free weekend so close ahead is baiting them as the early morning sunlight streams into the kitchen where Felix is currently loading the dishwasher with their used breakfast plates and mugs and their easy conversation turns into urges to get a move on and get to the office in time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin jumps into the passenger seat of Chan’s car five minutes later and they’re off to the company. He tries to blend out the idle chatter from the backseat as he turns to Chan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I ask you something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan takes his eyes off the road only for a short moment to look over at Jeongin. “Of course. Everything okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin is not sure how to bring it up but he tries anyway. “Last night… something happened.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I woke up during the night and I… couldn’t move. There was someone in my room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan stops at a red light and stares at Jeongin with a worried expression. “What exactly happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s a good question, Jeongin thinks as he watches people cross the street in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s like I was paralyzed. And I saw somebody standing in my room… and then they were gone again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It sounds stupid when he puts it like that. Chan must think he’s crazy or maybe he just had a bad dream but Jeongin knows that he was definitely awake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan hums and starts driving again as the light turns green. “It might be sleep paralysis.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course. “Yeah”, Jeongin breathes out. “Probably.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s still scratching!” Changbin’s yelling alerts Felix and Seungmin in the living room and they join him in the entry hall a moment later. “It’s still here! I’m going to lose it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin pops his head up from the staircase down to the basement. “Can you keep it down?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He earns a frustrated groan and Seungmin puts a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out what it is. Should we call… I don’t know? An exterminator maybe?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They don’t actually know if it’s rats or screws or pipes or a loose piece of wall or anything so maybe not an exterminator. But looking at Seungmin, Changbin gets an idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re good at doing research.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin senses a bad idea or Changbin calling in a favor coming up. “It’s literally my job.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin tries his best to make puppy eyes at him. “Okay, do you think you can find a blueprint of the house for me? I don’t know where to search for these kinds of things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Considering that this is probably the most sane idea he could have come up with, Seungmin counts it as a small victory and agrees to look into it for Changbin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin is still watching them from the basement staircase and Felix slides over to him as Seungmin and Changbin are talking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you wanna watch a movie or something? I feel like you’re always just holed up in your room.” Hyunjin seems to be lost in thought and Felix is not sure if he even listened to what he just said. “Hyunjin?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snaps out of it and looks at Felix. “Huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked if you wanna watch a movie… are you okay?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin nods slowly. “Yeah, sure. Sorry… I’m just tired. Haven’t been sleeping well because of work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix feels bad for asking Hyunjin to hang out all of a sudden. They all have a lot of work at the moment, though Hyunjin and Chan’s departments are especially overworked. Maybe he should just let Hyunjin get some rest. “You don’t have to, if you would rather get some sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A tired smile creeps across Hyunjin’s face. “No, I think it’ll be good. I’ll join you in the living room in ten minutes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While they are watching the movie, Felix keeps sneaking glances at Hyunjin. He looks exhausted and Felix’s heart feels heavy. “Would you like to switch rooms with me? Maybe you’ll sleep better up on the first floor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s nice of you.” Hyunjin turns his head slowly to smile at Felix. “But I’m fine. Once the project is done, I’ll sleep like a baby.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix’s eyes linger on him for a moment longer and the concern must show on his face as Hyunjin lets out a chuckle. “Don’t worry so much, you’ll get wrinkles.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Seungmin comes through for Changbin and tells him during lunch in the office that he managed to find a blueprint for the house. He’ll bring it home after work so that Changbin can look over it and Changbin honestly wants to offer Seungmin his soul in exchange as a token of gratitude.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Seungmin just makes a face at the statement. “No offense, but I don’t want your soul.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rude.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somehow the day gets progressively worse from then on. Changbin’s boss hates the contract proposal he and Jisung’s team have drawn up, which means they will need to rework the whole thing and one of his coworkers hands in her resignation letter, putting even more strain on the team. Changbin leaves the office that day with a troubled mind and even the ride home doesn’t really cheer him up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To make matters even worse, Seungmin leaves the table in the middle of dinner to accept a phone call and returns to the group with a pained expression on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong?”, Chan asks immediately. “Who was it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin takes a deep breath. “My dad… my mom, she had an accident…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god!” Felix jumps up and is at his side within a second. “What happened? Is she okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know… I mean, she’s okay he said but I don’t know exactly what happened.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho lowers the chopsticks he was holding. “Are you gonna visit them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin nods slowly. “Yeah, I just called a cab. I don’t… I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, I’m sorry-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t apologize”, Chan cuts him off. “We understand and the company will too. Take your time to look after your family.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin leaves to pack his bags and for a while, the rest of the group just sits at the dining table in silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wonder what happened”, Jisung mumbles. “I hope she’s really okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They see Seungmin off at the front door and Changbin pulls him into a tight hug just after Felix did the same. He claps Seungmin on the back to offer some comfort.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’ll be fine, I’m sure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin nods with a grateful smile. “Oh, I almost forgot. I put the blueprint you asked for in my room. There’s some other stuff I found about the house too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin thanks him again and tells him to focus on his family first and foremost now and shortly after, Seungmin is out the door and the remaining group of friends stands in the entry hall looking lost.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I kinda lost my appetite now”, Jeongin mutters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Same.” Hyunjin lets out a yawn. “I’m just gonna head to sleep I think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix agrees with him. “Sounds like a good plan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While half the group trudges off to sleep, Minho successfully manages to rope Changbin into helping him clear the dinner table even though he complains the entire time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When it’s suddenly silent for a moment, Minho turns around to tease him but he finds Changbin standing in the middle of the kitchen, finger raised to his lips and eyebrows furrowed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There”, he whispers. “Can you hear it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho listens closely and sure enough, he hears faint scratching sounds. “Should we buy mouse traps?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The suggestion has Changbin think for a moment before he snaps his fingers with an excited face. “Hold that thought!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He dashes off at light speed and as Minho loads up the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes, he feels like he just got tricked into doing chores alone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Seungmin is neat but Changbin certainly does not understand his organization. For fear of turning his entire room upside down and having Seungmin return to the house and immediately kill him, he tries to think about where he could have put the blueprint.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I were a blueprint”, he mumbles to himself as he searches the desk in Seungmin’s room, drawer by drawer, “where would I be?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes trail around the room before landing on the messenger bag Seungmin always takes to work lying abandoned on top of the bed. Of course.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s almost midnight when Minho closes his laptop and rubs his eyes. Enough for today. He has almost reached the bottom of the staircase down to the ground floor to get a last glass of water from the kitchen before finally getting some beauty sleep and is only mildly surprised to find their resident night owl Chan standing in the dark hallway. He notices Minho and motions him to be quiet and come over to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho joins him in the dark and whispers as quietly as he can, “What’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan turns him around by his shoulders so they’re looking in the same direction, down the dark hallway on the other side of the entry hall that leads to the living room area. He silently points a finger to the hallway and Minho thinks that maybe Chan’s sleep deprivation has finally driven him insane before he sees it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Faintly illuminated by the moonlight flooding the living room, a shadowy figure moves around with slow movements.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Skeletons of the past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heyall!!!</p><p>how does one stop eating all day every day pls help :((</p><p>hope you like this one and have a good day/night everyone!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Isn’t that Hyunjin?” Minho can’t be sure because it’s so dark, but it looks a lot like him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan nods and whispers back, “He’s been walking around there like that for the past five minutes. I think he’s sleepwalking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s just lie him down on the couch. I don’t want to be responsible for dropping him down the flight of stairs to the basement.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they approach Hyunjin who paces around the living room like a zombie, he doesn’t even notice them. He looks confused, like his body is running on autopilot and Chan grabs him softly to guide him to the couch. It’s eerie how easily they can move him to lie down on the couch and as soon as his head hits the pillow, his eyes close and he falls fully asleep again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan and Minho exchange a worried glance and retreat to the kitchen as quietly as possible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that was weird”, Minho says as he fills up a glass with water. Chan hums next to him, eyes still fixed on the direction of the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Has he ever said anything to you about sleepwalking?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho shakes his head. “Not that I remember. But maybe he doesn’t even know that he sleepwalks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something did not work out. Jisung checks the vegetable garden he and Seungmin planted with a sad look the next afternoon after work. Some of the sprouting plants seem fine but most of them just look wilted and withered. Felix pats him on the back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ll get luckier next time. At least some of them look promising!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung sighs at the sad sight of the would-have-been vegetables. “I just don’t understand. We followed all the instructions and stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin joins them in the yard. “Oh man, those look rough.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He earns a stern look from Jisung. “You’re not helping.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t bully Jeongin”, Minho mutters as he passes them by. “I’ll take a look around the property, anyone wanna join?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung, Felix and Jeongin look up at the overcast sky, grey with the threat of rain falling any moment. They wordlessly shake their heads and Minho shrugs as he crosses the backyard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There are a few apple trees at the edge of the yard and once he weaves through them, he’s at the edge of the forest. Might as well check that out too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It starts raining as he enters the forest, though the thick, colorful autumn foliage protects him from most of it as he steps over roots and encounters a squirrel quickly escaping him up a tree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho decides to head back to the house as the rain gets stronger and he’s almost back in the yard when he spots something out of the corner of his eye, hidden partially behind an old tree stump.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a grave, he realizes the closer he gets to the headstone, showing some signs of the passage of time, worn away by years of rain and snow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tries to make out names and dates but it’s faded to the point of almost being unreadable now and he eventually gives up and makes his way back to the house.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A grave?” Chan, Changbin and Minho are currently sitting at the kitchen table while the rest of the members are watching a movie together in the living room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho nods. “I wanted to tell you guys so we don’t freak any of the younger ones out but it’s kind of strange.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin hums. “I’ll ask my family if they know anything about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung and Felix’s laughter drifts through the hallway to them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, let’s keep this on the down low for now and you ask your family, Changbin.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Changbin can’t fall asleep. Something’s been bothering him the past few days and he just can’t put a finger on what exactly it is. He gets up and turns on the light at his desk, sitting down and flipping open the folder Seungmin left behind for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blueprint looks kind of complicated but Changbin is sure he can find some WikiHow on how to read that or something. What his eyes get drawn to though, are pages upon pages stacked below the printed copies of the blueprints.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes widen as he flips through them and a sense of urgency rushes through him as he grabs the folder and marches over to Minho’s room, knocking softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first he thinks Minho might be asleep already before the door opens and Minho blinks at him. “Sorry, I had to put on pants.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Normally, Changbin would make a comment but right now, his mind is racing. He pushes Minho back into the room, following right after and shutting the door behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho stares at him with raised eyebrows. “Are you coming on to me, Seo Changbin?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin ignores the question and hands him the folder. Minho stares at the blueprint for a moment. “What am I supposed to do with this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not that. Look at the other pages.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a minute or two, Minho flips through pages, eyes darting over them quickly before he lowers the folder and looks at Changbin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho sits back down on the bed, going over the pages one more time. Newspaper articles, pictures, reports, all the information compiled neatly telling them of the gruesome Ivy Lane family murders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In 1973, the eldest son of the Brody family of eight living in the mansion at the time, killed his entire family one night, one by one and eventually ended his own life as soon as the police arrived at the property. The only thing he said over and over was that they were cursed, the house was cursed and that he had to save his family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think I need to ask my family anymore”, Changbin mutters.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Salt of the earth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heya everyone!</p><p>i've had my first work day at the new job today and my brain is FRIED<br/>since i'm back at work, updates might be a little slower until the weekend, though i will try my best to still post at least one story/chapter a day :)</p><p>i hope you're all having a good start to the week!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Panicked gasps fill the silence in Jeongin’s room as he wakes up from yet another nightmare. He sits up quickly, trying to breathe deeply, still shaking from the dream in which he couldn’t breathe. What a lovely way to start a Saturday, he thinks as he slowly makes his way down to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He finds Hyunjin sitting at the breakfast table already, staring off into space as he sips a coffee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sleep well?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin’s question makes Hyunjin snap out of his daze and he nods slowly. “Yeah. It’s too early though, I might just go back to sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sit in silence as Jeongin eats some toast and Hyunjin finishes his coffee and they both get startled when Jisung joins them in the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Since when are you up so early?”, Hyunjin asks with a dubious look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to make sure Seungmin and my plants are doing okay”, Jisung answers and rubs the sleep from his eyes. “So I woke up to do that and then I will not leave my bed until tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He downs a glass of water and wanders out of the kitchen and crosses the house to walk into the backyard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rain has thankfully let up overnight, though the dark clouds above his head threaten another downpour later on in the day. Jisung checks the vegetable garden and lets out a whine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even the sprouting plants that looked promising yesterday are now just sad withered stalks, despite Jisung’s desperate pleas to the universe to let them thrive and grow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He squats down to inspect the soil for any surviving plants hanging on for dear life and his eyebrows shoot up when he discovers some white grains under one of the dead leaves, sheltered from the rain. Salt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s back in the house fast like a lightning bolt and can barely contain his anger as he shouts for everyone to come downstairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only a few minutes later, Changbin, Chan, Minho and Felix sluggishly walk down the stairs to find a worried Felix and Hyunjin and a fuming Jisung standing in the entry hall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you waking up the whole house on Saturday morning? Are you crazy?” Minho narrows his eyes at him in a glare but can’t hold back a yawn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung frantically waves his arms around. “Which one of you was it?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was what?” Changbin’s hair sticks up wildly all over his head as he tries his best to keep his eyes open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who salted our vegetable garden?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin looks confused. “What do you mean? I thought your plants just died?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung takes a deep breath. He knows he shouldn’t get so worked up over the vegetables but this wasn’t just some random prank - Seungmin and him worked hard on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Some were still alive. But I checked them now and I saw that someone put salt on the soil and they’re all dead!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan lets out a sleepy groan. “Are you sure?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry about that but it wasn’t me. I really don’t have any interest in your vegetables. So I’m going back to sleep.” Minho turns on his heels and is back in his room before Jisung can say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin follows suit, insisting he’s innocent and Felix looks shocked. “I hope you know it wasn’t me, Sungie!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whoever it was, just fess up! Just say you’re sorry and that you won’t do it again and we can put this to rest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin lets out a huff next to him. “Stop painting us as the bad guys just because you’re too dumb to plant some veggies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They exchange angry words for a few minutes until Jeongin steps in and has to physically separate the two of them to keep them from throwing punches at each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatever”, Hyunjin mutters. “I’m too tired to deal with this shit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>None of his friends admit to being the culprit and Jisung eventually has to give up when everyone just leaves him standing alone in the entry hall to either go back to sleep or start their day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A knock on Changbin’s door rouses him from the light sleep he fell into after Jisung’s hysterical interrogation earlier this morning. When he checks his watch he sees that it’s almost eleven and he hears the soft pitter patter of rain drops against his window. There’s another knock on his door, ripping him from his thoughts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come in”, he mumbles and Minho sticks his head in through the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I talk to you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin sits up in his bed and nods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, did I wake you up?” After closing the door behind him, Minho pulls the chair from the desk in Changbin’s room over to sit closer to Changbin’s bed. Changbin shakes his head and rubs at his eyes to fully wake up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s fine. What do you want to talk about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho waves the folder Seungmin put together through the air. “About this. I was up late last night reading the articles Seungmin found and it seems… strange.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Strange how?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin scooches closer to the edge of the bed so they can both look over the pages, shoulder to shoulder, heads stuck together. Minho points at one of the pages.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, so somehow - and I’m not sure if that’s public knowledge or if Seungmin got those illegally - it says in the police reports that none of the family members had any prior run-ins with the law. No history of violence, no domestic abuse, not even a parking ticket.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho looks up at Changbin and blinks a few times in rapid succession. “Are you following or do you need a coffee first?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin looks back at him and almost bumps his nose against Minho’s, making him realize how close they are sitting. He leans back a little bit and feels weirdly small under Minho’s intense gaze. “No, I’m good. Continue.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho’s eyes linger on him for a moment before he nods and turns his attention back to the folder. “Basically, it’s kind of strange for the son to just snap out of nowhere and murder his whole family. There’s also no mention of any mental illness in the family and apparently the son even did a health check a few weeks before moving into the house.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a long pause and Changbin is not sure if Minho will continue talking or expects some kind of reply from him. “So what are you saying?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho hums. “I’m not sure, but it just seems fishy to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was strange, Changbin had to admit. But didn’t people always say they never saw it coming when some dude kills his family? He says as much to Minho who makes a face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not wrong but something about this just feels off. I don’t know how to explain it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think it’s the house.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho huffs out a laugh. “Look, I’m not saying the house is haunted. There’s probably a very logical reason for all of this. But it’s kind of weird, don’t you think? The scratching, for example.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right, the scratching. Changbin still needs to check that again with the blueprint. “Speaking of that, can you help me check that again later?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.” Minho looks up at him from the folder again. “I want to look into this more later though, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin nods, not sure what exactly Minho wants to look for but he doesn’t really have any plans for the day anyway. They just kind of stare at each other for a while before Changbin clears his throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhm, I’m gonna put on clothes now so…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho’s mouth opens into a silent Oh and Changbin can see his ears turn red as he gathers the papers and gets up hastily. “Uh sure… yeah, I’ll just… uhm, leave you to it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rushes out of the room as quickly as he appeared and Changbin is left sitting in his bed scratching his head and wondering what just happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jisung wakes up from a restless sleep and groans when he sees it’s only one in the morning. After the vegetable incident yesterday, he helped Minho and Changbin check for the source of the scratching sounds again but to no avail. Since they didn’t hear any more sounds throughout the day, Changbin eventually just admitted defeat and put the thing to rest for now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanders downstairs, hoping that a little walk around the house will tire him out enough to fall asleep again and almost has a heart attack when he sees someone sitting in the dark in the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you’re up”, Chan whispers from the armchair in the darkness. “Why are you up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good god, I almost shit myself. Don’t scare me like that!” Jisung sits down on the couch across from Chan and tries to stabilize his breathing again. “What are you doing here in the dark?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan sighs, repositioning himself in the big chair. “Couldn’t sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung knows that Chan has trouble sleeping on good days but to him it seems that Chan hasn’t fully settled into living in the house yet. More often than not, Chan stays up late and gets up early, seemingly sleeping an hour a night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tries his best to cheer Chan up a bit, though after a while of easy chitchat, he feels his own exhaustion wearing him down and he lets out a yawn.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go back to sleep”, Chan says with a soft voice. “I’ll go too.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Revelations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ayoooo~</p><p>this chapter is a bit shorter, though the next ones should be like twice this length at least!<br/>i hope you're all staying healthy and eating some good food!</p><p>have a fresh day/night and enjoy! :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The study has effectively been converted to Minho and Changbin’s main hideout now. After checking for rats in the house the other day, they retreated to the study to do more digging on the Brody family and their untimely deaths. The small study is stuffed with books as far as the eye can see, though compared to the spacious rooms in the rest of the house, it is fairly small with only a fancy looking chair and desk as well as an oversized armchair in it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin claimed the armchair the first time they entered the study and is currently lying on it, legs hanging over one side of the chair, head hanging over the other, staring up at the ceiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho watches him for a moment, taking in his probably uncomfortable position before he looks back to his laptop that he brought into the study. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should sit up, you’re going to hurt your back”, he mumbles as he opens a new tab.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin shifts in the armchair to sit down cross legged. “Aw so you do care.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I do”, Minho grunts out though he doesn’t look up from the screen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he had, he would have seen the faint blush creeping across Changbin’s face as he bit his lip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you explain to me again why we are even looking into this?”, he asks after a minute of silence. “You don’t really believe this house is haunted, do you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho lets out a sigh as he tears his eyes away from the laptop to look over at Changbin. “Of course I don’t. I just… I don’t know, it just bothers me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin hums. “Alright then. Should we give Seungmin a call to see if he found out anything that he didn’t put in the folder? I mean, I don’t really want to bother him when he’s with his family but…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho thinks about it for a moment. When Seungmin texted them yesterday he said he would be home soon as his mom’s recovering from her fall down the stairs. “Sure, let’s call him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Easier said than done apparently, because neither Changbin nor Minho can reach him for the rest of the day and so they eventually give up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you tell us about this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung waves the folder through the air before slapping it down onto the coffee table in the living room. Hyunjin found it earlier while looking for a specific book in the study and showed it to the others, who are now interrogating Minho and Changbin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look”, Changbin interjects, “we just didn’t want to worry anyone. It’s not a big deal anyway. I mean, what does that change? It’s not like their corpses are lying in our kitchen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix looks around the room nervously. “What if the house is haunted?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The question earns him an eye roll from Minho, who crosses his arms in front of his chest, leaning against the wall. “Ghosts aren’t real.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s creepy though”, Jisung replies and points at Jeongin. “It would explain his nightmares. And the scratching.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan sighs and buries his face in his hands. “Okay, calm down everyone. There’s very logical and rational explanations for Jeongin’s nightmares and the scratching sounds. It could be a number of things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The scratching has stopped, by the way”, Changbin adds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though Felix and Hyunjin don’t seem satisfied with that, they decide to end the discussion here to prevent further panic or arguments. Jisung makes a big show out of sleeping in Chan’s room from now on for protection, which he doesn’t decline and they all part ways to spend their evening doing whatever they had originally planned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho and Changbin exchange a look once they are alone in the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think we should have told them earlier?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho shakes his head at the question. “What good would it have done?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the time ticks by, Jisung is sound asleep next to Chan who finally closes his laptop. He should start going to sleep earlier, especially on Sundays. Jisung mumbles something as Chan gets up from the bed to grab a last glass of water before going to sleep and for a moment, Chan just stands there looking at Jisung, wrapped up like a blanket burrito, softly muttering nonsense. Cute.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The stairs are cold under his feet and Chan makes a mental note to figure out how to get the fireplace going tomorrow. He just hopes they don’t burn the whole place down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he makes his way back up to his room, he finds Jisung sitting up in his bed, sleepily rubbing his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, did I wake you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung’s eyes are only half open as he pulls his blanket up further. “Why were you just standing in the dark?”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. In the still of the night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heyall~</p><p>i have to work on a bunch of projects for work and i want to procrastinate<br/>so here's another chapter of this! :D</p><p>have a good day/night and stay warm!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Something is clearly very off here. They’re all gathered at the breakfast table the next morning and while Jisung explains what happened last night, much to Felix’s horror, Chan’s eyes are fixed on Hyunjin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s possible that Hyunjin was sleepwalking again and paid Jisung a visit, but Chan would have seen him go up the stairs from the kitchen. The time window in which Hyunjin could have gone up is so small that Chan is sure no one in a sleepwalking state would be able to make it without being seen by someone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then who was it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds like a good idea”, Felix says, bringing Chan’s attention back to the conversation. “I’ll join Jeongin in this case.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin holds up a hand. “I’m not sharing my sacred fortress of solitude with any of you weirdos.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nobody says they want to room with you anyway”, Minho teases. “I’ll stay with Changbin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin seems flustered by the suggestion but doesn’t say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That means you’ll room with Seungmin once he comes back”, Jisung states. “Speaking of, shouldn’t he come back today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We haven’t been able to reach him, but last time he said he’ll come back today, yes.” All eyes turn to Chan as he finally finds his words. “I think we’re late for work, we should go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon the worries regarding the house are replaced by deadlines, stressful work meetings and tons of paperwork, leaving the group of friends virtually no time to even think about the strange happenings at home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s only when they are on their way home that a familiar heaviness settles in, the car ride spent in tense silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re only rooming with me because you’re jealous I have the master bedroom”, Changbin grumbles to Minho to break the silence. Minho chuckles and throws a wink at him before focusing back on the road again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I just want to be closer to you, Seo Changbin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin makes a retching sound from the backseat. “Gross.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of the drive consists of Jeongin and Minho bantering while Changbin is glad to be out of the conversation as he desperately tries to hide the redness on his cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the other car, Chan has to deal with a paranoid Felix, an enabling Jisung and an annoyed Hyunjin and does his best to keep the discussion from turning into a fight without swerving the car into the other lane.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just saying, if it’s a ghost - shouldn’t we try to appease it or something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix glares daggers at Jisung. “This isn’t The Sims! Do you think there’s some real life ghost busters?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chan is glad to leave the car when they finally reach the house. Minho raises an eyebrow at him when he enters the house and Chan just kicks off his shoes with a sigh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You drive them next time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Minho climbs into Changbin’s bed and pulls the covers up to his nose, staring up at the ceiling in the dim light of the lamp on Changbin’s night stand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really wonder what’s going on here”, he mumbles and Changbin’s confused look tells him that he didn’t understand a word of what Minho just said. He pulls the covers down below his chin and repeats himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin turns off the light and lies down beside him with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s weird.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sudden silence in the dark room makes Changbin feel awkward and he turns to lie on his side, looking over to Minho.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh… good night I guess”, he whispers, not sure why he’s whispering. Minho turns on his side as well and his hand grabs Changbin’s between their heads on the pillow. Changbin almost scoots back out of surprise but Minho quickly interlaces their fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If something happens during the night to one of us, we’ll just pull the other’s hand”, Minho explains though there’s a hint of hesitation in his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somehow just holding each other’s hand makes them both feel more relaxed and Changbin’s eyelids flutter closed before he knows it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho pulls their locked hands closer to his face and presses a light kiss to Changbin’s knuckles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good night.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The snoring next to Jeongin reassures him when he wakes up with a jolt from a nightmare in which Felix fell down an elevator shaft. Instinctively, Jeongin throws an arm over Felix, who stops snoring and blinks at him sleepily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wha?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin manages a weak smile. “Nothing. Just a nightmare, go back to sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The floorboards in the hallway creak and both Jeongin and Felix immediately sit up in bed, arms linked, exchanging a worried look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s probably just one of the others, right?”, Felix whispers to Jeongin, eyes wide in fear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Probably. But Jeongin doesn’t want to take that chance. He motions for Felix to be quiet as he slides out of bed and though Felix lets out a barely audible whine, he stays put.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin somehow makes it to the door of his room without a sound and opens the door as quietly as possible, poking his head out to check the hallway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He breathes a sigh of relief as he closes the door again and crawls back into bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing. I guess old houses just make weird sounds sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix sucks in a deep breath. “Thank god.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Despite the night’s events, the sun is shining the next morning and Felix stretches himself as he slides out of bed, careful not to wake up Jeongin. He woke up before his alarm but there’s no point in going back to sleep for a few minutes anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A yawn escapes him as he makes his way downstairs and he rubs the sleep from his eyes. As he takes the steps down, he furrows his brows. Something is different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he has reached the bottom of the staircase, Felix turns around to look back up and that’s when he can clearly see it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Black letters scribbled on the wall above the staircase - </span>
  <em>
    <span>Cursed.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Trepidation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heya friends! :D</p><p>i have to give a presentation at work in like 2 minutes and im N E R V O U S!!</p><p>hope you like this one and as always, have a fresh day/night! :D</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“It’s one thing to pull a prank on Jisung and Seungmin’s vegetables but to draw on the goddamn wall is a whole other pair of shoes!” Changbin stares at his friends with an angry look. “Who did it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All five of them argue for their innocence, but Changbin is not convinced. “I can vouch for Minho. But it could be any one of you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Felix lets out a whine. “Hey, I told you about it! It wasn’t me, why would I tell you about this if I’m the one who put it there? And Jeongin was with me, he didn’t leave the room either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung and Chan exchange a look and reply in perfect synchronization. “It wasn’t us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All eyes turn to Hyunjin who shrugs his shoulders. “It wasn’t me, I was asleep the whole night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you were sleepwalking”, Chan thinks out loud and Hyunjin huffs a laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t sleep walk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin looks surprised at the news but Felix cuts in before he can reply. “What if it was a ghost?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For the last time, there are no ghosts”, Chan sighs. “Let’s just clean this up. No more vandalizing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They quickly scrub the writing off the wall before rushing off to work, though the tense atmosphere between them follows them all the way to the office and sticks to them like glue for the rest of the day. On top of their argument, they also have to work twice as much today to make up for the off day scheduled tomorrow due to it being a public holiday and by the time they’re on their way home, everyone is exhausted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think Seungmin’s already back at the house?”, Felix wonders out loud but receives no response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung breaks the silence a little while later. “Shouldn’t he have been back by now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They spend the rest of the evening trying to reach Seungmin but he’s most likely still in transit and none of their calls go through. Eventually they agree to try again tomorrow if he doesn’t return during the night and go to sleep, ending a long day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin drags himself out of bed and shivers at the contact of his feet with the cold floor the next morning. He hasn’t felt warm once since they moved into the house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After taking a shower, he stops by the kitchen to find Minho with his head stuck in the fridge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you looking for Narnia?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho whips his head around to look at Hyunjin. “Do you smell that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hyunjin smells the air around him but shakes his head. “Smell what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something smells weird”, Minho answers as he closes the fridge door. “I don’t know what it is so I checked if there’s anything rotting away in our fridge but that’s not it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sits down across from Hyunjin at the kitchen table before he continues. “Maybe we should do some spring cleaning. Or fall cleaning. Either way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take care of the basement level.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cleaning a whole mansion is a lot more work than Minho initially thought. He passes by Changbin who half heartedly sweeps the hallway while Jisung’s loudly singing along to a pop song as he cleans the windows. The day is already nearing its end and Minho feels kind of bad for making everyone clean on their day off, but they should really take better care of the house since Changbin was looking to sell it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho makes his way up to the attic and wrinkles his nose at the amount of dust he finds. How do you even clean that? He has half a mind to just wander back down and let the next people who inhabit the house deal with it when he sees an empty, dust free outline on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rectangular spot has not a single speck of dust which means whatever had been there was taken recently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho raises his brows. It looks like the outline of some kind of box, but who would take a random box from the attic and move it?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a long, long day of cleaning, Chan wants nothing more than to just take a relaxing late night bath and kick back. Which is exactly what he has planned. As he checks the water temperature, he hums in content and closes the bathroom door. The door doesn’t have a lock, though he announced loudly that he would take a bath earlier and really hopes that no one will disturb him for a while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He plops in his bluetooth earphones and leans his head against the edge of the bathtub, lowering himself in the warm water and closes his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This is exactly what he needed - just some peace and quiet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gets drowsy after a while and contemplates nodding off for a little bit, though doing that in a bathtub is probably not the best idea if he doesn’t want to drown.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he opens his eyes to wake himself up a bit, all he sees is two hands reaching out for him and before he can even react, his head gets pushed underwater forcefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He struggles to come up for air, frantically punching and slapping the arms holding him firmly in place and as his lungs burn and his strength fades, his vision goes dark.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The longest night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>heya everyone! :)</p><p>thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this story and for your great comments! I really appreciate them and they always make my day better - you are the real MVPs! :D</p><p>i hope you all have a great weekend ahead and take care!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jeongin wakes up in a cold sweat and is disoriented for a moment. He fell asleep on the couch after cleaning earlier and only woke up because he had another nightmare. The image of seeing Hyunjin covered in blood is still seared into his brain and he gets a sinking feeling in his stomach.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The house is dark, except for some light shining out of the kitchen, where Minho, Jisung and Changbin are playing some card game and with a look at his watch, Jeongin notices that it’s 10pm already as he slowly makes his way down the stairs to the basement. He hears a loud thump from upstairs and chalks it up to one of the three losing the round and getting mad, concentrating more on not tripping on the staircase in the dark.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Felix leaves his room with earphones in, hips swaying to the song he’s listening to. He slowly makes his way down the hallway to take a little excursion to the kitchen for a late night snack, completely oblivious to his surroundings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stops in front of the handrail on the side of the staircase on the first floor to look down and check if the light is still on in the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Within a second, he feels the world lurch under him and he tries to grab onto the railing with the hand not holding his phone. His eyes widen in panic and his heart stops as he misses the railing and tumbles to the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the hell was that?” Jisung jumps up from his seat at the kitchen table, the cards that were in his hands scattering onto the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin exchanges a look with him and Minho before he gets up. “No idea, let’s check.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All three of them carefully make their steps into the hallway, only to be greeted with a gruesome scene.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god!” Minho rushes to Felix’s contorted body on the floor and yells back at the others, “Turn on the light!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung dashes for the lightswitch and a moment later, their eyes are fixed on a broken Felix, lying in a pool of his own blood, a deep open wound on his head, his body bent into angles it should not be in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ambulance...call an ambulance”, Changbin mutters out, deep in shock. “We have to call an ambulance!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The smell is absolutely awful and Jeongin covers his nose and mouth as he reaches the basement. So this is the smell Minho was referring to earlier today.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a commotion going on upstairs and Jeongin’s wary feeling only intensifies as he reaches for the door handle to Hyunjin’s room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he opens the door, all he finds is an empty room, no Hyunjin in sight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin closes the door again and walks down the corridor to the second door, the one to the basement. The smell here is so horrible that it makes Jeongin’s eyes water and he opens the door, fumbling for the light switch on the wall to be able to see anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing could have prepared him for the view he gets when the light finally turns on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cramped basement is filled with shelves, overflowing with tools, trinkets and construction material, but Jeongin can only look at one thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seungmin’s lifeless body in the middle of the room, beaten to a pulp and starting to decompose, surrounded by a familiar word scratched on every free surface of the floor or walls - </span>
  <em>
    <span>Cursed</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Panic settles in and Jeongin slowly backs out of the room again but his eyes get stuck on a stack of notebooks in a box near the entrance. He bends down a little to look at the page of an open one just to see the crazed writings of the Brady son who ended up killing his family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They have to get out of here, immediately.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jeongin straightens up to leave when he suddenly feels a thin strip of fabric being pressed against his neck and his last thought before he suffocates is the memory of his nightmare in which he couldn’t breathe. A nightmare that had been a warning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Minho and Changbin are still trying to get through to the ambulance as Jisung takes two stairs at a time to run up to the bathroom on the first floor and inform Chan of what happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chan! Chan, I’m sorry to distu-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung’s legs give out when he sees Chan’s body floating in the bathtub, no sign of life left in him and for a moment, he thinks he can’t breathe. Something in him takes over though as Jisung hoists himself up on his legs again and drags Chan’s body out of the bathtub and onto the bathroom floor, frantically trying to resuscitate him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mon Chan, breathe”, he pleads as he pushes down on his chest over and over again, tears blurring his vision. “God dammit, breathe!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leans forward to give him mouth to mouth and Chan feels colder under his touch, too cold, but Jisung can’t give up. He begs and curses and pleads until he can’t hold back his sobs anymore, clutching at Chan’s limp body.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For fuck’s sake! Why can’t we get through?!”, Changbin yells at nothing, dialing the emergency number over and over, just like Minho.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho pauses as he looks at Changbin with a concerned face. “Do you smell that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it with you an your stupid smells?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Smoke… That’s smoke!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin’s face is stuck in a shocked expression as Minho’s words register in his mind. “We have to get out of here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung comes barrelling down the stairs with tears streaming down his cheeks just as Minho starts calling out for the others, trying his best to pick up Felix’s body from the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chan is dead”, Jisung chokes out. “He’s dead… he’s fucking dead…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin feels paralyzed as he watches his friends run around the house, trying to find the others. He can feel the fire now, sees the flames swallowing up wallpaper and carpets and the only thing breaking his trance is a burning plank of wood crashing from the first floor down right in front of the main door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck- Guys! The back door! Take the back door!” His legs finally start moving again, catching up with Jisung and Minho in the hallway, though from there they have a direct view of the door to the backyard engulfed in flames.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The smoke hangs thick in the air and Minho quickly pushes Jisung and Changbin low down onto  the floor. “Stay on the ground. We have to get out of here, is there another way, Binnie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin coughs at the smoke as they crawl back to the basement, Minho dragging Felix with him. “The basement- there’s a, a crawlspace.” He coughs again and as they reach the smoke filled entry hall, Changbin’s eyes drift over to Felix’s body. “I think he’s… he’s gone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho’s eyes are burning, from the smoke or from the tears rising up in him, he doesn’t know. But they have to get out of the house as fast as possible and so with a heavy heart, he leaves Felix lying on the floor, biting the inside of his cheeks to not absolutely fucking lose it right now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin coughs and sobs as he leads them down to the basement, Jisung following behind them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about Jeongin and Hyunjin?! Where are they?! Has anyone seen-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jisung’s screaming stops and as Minho and Changbin reach the bottom of the stairs to the basement and fully stand up they turn around to look back at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Through the smoke, they see two shadows. A gurgle mixes in with the sounds of burning wood and Jisung sinks to his knees, clutching his throat with wide eyes before they roll back in his head and his body falls to the side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Behind him, Hyunjin emerges through the fog, a slasher smile and wild eyes on his face, still gripping onto the bloody knife.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go”, Minho breathes out and he grabs Changbin’s hand. “Go, now! Run!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho has to drag him into action and they run down the corridor as fast as their feet can carry them, stumbling over something and sending them falling into the basement room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeongin.” Changbin’s voice is hoarse from the smoke he breathed in. “Jeongin and Seungmin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The adrenaline in Minho takes over as he reaches for Changbin’s hand again and focuses his eyes on the small entrance to the crawlspace. Fuck, there’s no way two people can fit through that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go first”, he commands and Changbin looks at him now, really looks at him. He looks absolutely terrified and Minho thinks that he himself probably looks just as frightened as Changbin. “You have to go, now. We need to get out of here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Changbin shakes his head. “Go, you go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Footsteps echo through the corridor, alerting them both that Hyunjin will reach them in no time. Something flashes across Changbin’s face and he pulls him forward by the neck to press a hard kiss on his lips. “I’m sorry, I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho can’t comprehend the words Changbin mumbles against his lips as he gets turned around roughly and shoved into the crawlspace. He hears the door to the basement swing open and Changbin’s frantic voice and the sounds of struggle following it propel him to move.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He crawls through the small metal tunnel as quickly as possible as he hears a low moan from behind him and the unmistakable sound of a bone cracking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mind blanks, blood rushing to his head so quickly he can hear it in his ears and he finally reaches the end of the crawlspace, stumbling out into an open field.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho staggers for a few steps, the smoke, the adrenaline, the fear in his bones making it hard to focus and then he runs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He runs as far as he can before his lungs start hurting and his shaky legs stumble, making him fall down on his knees in the middle of the field.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Help. He needed to call for help. He looks back over his shoulder to the ivy covered mansion set ablaze and fumbles for the cellphone in his pocket. His hands shake so much he has to try typing the emergency number three times before he gets it right and just as someone finally picks up, he feels the blade against his neck, a sharp cut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minho turns around and the last thing he sees is Hyunjin, smiling serenely, covered in blood, against the backdrop of the burning Ivy Lane mansion.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i would really love to know if you'd be interested to read more of this or if i should just trash it before i get too invested lmao</p><p>to all of you a good night/day! :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
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